Precious
by Nachtweiss
Summary: At some point, she grew up, and, at some point, he realized she was precious. NaruSaku


At some point, the little girl became a woman and there never seems to have been any time in between that anyone can remember, so that it's almost as if she went to sleep one night a child and woke up an adult. And during that metamorphis, that magic sleep, she learned how to say what she truly felt, and that makes her all the more wonderful, all the more terrifying, because though it means that she has finally bloomed, it also means that all of the anger, all of the sadness and elation and pain that she has kept inside comes tumbling out in a waterfall that drowns people.

(Once, on a mission, Naruto laughs and says he'd rather die out here fighting, not because of honor and such, but because imagine how furious she would be with him if he died at home. She wouldn't let you die in peace, that's for sure, Kiba points out and the smiles grow, hiding the fear that lurks beneath.)

So today she comes down the street, eyes flaming and cheeks scarlet and everyone smarter than a rock (even they would run if they had legs) moves like lightening and wonders what some poor person has done now.

(When she cries, it is like the world has ended and the rains have come to wash away all that is left. She doesn't cry an ocean, no, because oceans have an end and have a floor and have a limit and these tears do not. They soak her face and run into her clothes and hair and skin and she appears to him like an angel that is falling, trying to hold on and unable to find anything to grab except for herself, whom she clings to like anything.)

Up the hospital steps and she is so angry that she can't even think straight except that _he is going to get it _and no one is going to stop her. Pushing past people she can't identify, such is the rage clouding her mind, down the hall, towards the door where she knows he is because she can feel him and can he sense her? If he runs again, there will be no end to it and she will have to kill him, like she couldn't do the first time.

(Someone once insulted _him_, right there on the street in front of her, and everyone froze, because people _knew _how she reacted when they insulted _him_, but instead of launching herself into a passionate speech about how wonderful he was, her eyes got all sad and she agreed with them, and everyone knew she wasn't _Sakura-chan _anymore but _Haruno-san._)

The door slams open and there they are, golden and black and silver, all staring at her, Naruto apprehensive, Sasuke bemused, Kakashi expectant. So when she dives at Naruto, screaming and cursing, tackling him, Sasuke hides the disappointment in his eyes and Kakashi laughs before trying to pull her back, and in that moment it becomes clear that so much has changed.

(_If you try to go after him, I will stop you, _she says the night before he leaves and he jumps, because how does she know what he means to do? Her eyes are hard and unyielding when he asks her what she means. _Uchiha-san. He isn't worth it. _And Naruto knows she's lying, about Sasuke's worth, because if he weren't worth it she would never have bothered to use his surname.)

Later, after those awkward moments when Sakura and Sasuke stare at each other, neither saying a word, and Sasuke finally apologizing and Sakura fighting not to cry, trying not to forgive him, he walks her home and the moonlight softens her even more so that she seems almost like a ghost, lost in the road and the mist and the night, so much that he stops and touches her face to make sure she is really there. _Naruto? _she asks, her eyes confused, and he smiles to reassure her. _You look pretty, _he says, and she blushes slightly and pulls at him, because it is getting chilly and she has dinner at home, and he goes along willingly, because tonight maybe he can sleep on her couch again and he won't feel so lonely when the moon sets.

(_Do you have a precious person? _She asks him once as they sit on the old bridge, dangling their feet above the stream. _Yes, but you'd never believe me if I told you, _he explains, smiling his secret smile that he uses sometimes, because, if he told her the truth, she wouldn't, for that's the way she is.)


End file.
